Gondi Tribal Tattoo and God Figure Bastar Chhattisgarh

Gondi ritual body tattooing and the making of Gondhi god figures in Bastar and Kondagaon districts, Chhattisgarh represent two interconnected practices of Gond tribal religious life centred on the worship of clan deities, forest spirits, and the supreme deity Persa Pen. Gondi tattoos applied by specialist Tatheri tattooist women using thorn or needle and lamp-black soot mark clan identity, ward off specific illnesses associated with particular deities, and mark the transition from girlhood to marriageability, with patterns on the arm, neck, and forehead identifying village and deity affiliation. Gondhi god figures are flat wooden plaques or terracotta tablets carved or moulded with the simplified face and geometric body form of the clan deity, installed in the household and at the village deity shrine for annual worship. The making of Gondhi figures, undertaken by specific Kumhar or Kacchi specialist families within Gond villages, is ritual work requiring the observance of dietary taboos and ceremonial purity during production. Bastar artists have adapted the aesthetic vocabulary of Gondhi figures to contemporary art formats, and Gond painting as a commercial form has achieved national and international recognition from artists including Jangarh Singh Shyam and his family.